London, UK - 11 November 2006, 9:45 GMT - Today is
the anniversary of the end of the first world war, Armistice Day, 11th
November at 11:00am. We would like to present, Wilfred Owen's "Dulce
et Decorum Est", the best known poem of the First World War,
which rather accurately describes the horror of war, and the pity of war.

ATCA: The Asymmetric Threats Contingency Alliance
is a philanthropic expert initiative founded in 2001 to resolve complex
global challenges through collective Socratic dialogue and joint executive
action to build a wisdom based global economy. Adhering to the doctrine
of non-violence, ATCA addresses opportunities and threats arising from
climate chaos, radical poverty, organised crime & extremism, advanced
technologies -- bio, info, nano, robo & AI, demographic skews, pandemics
and financial systems. Present membership of ATCA is by invitation only
and has over 5,000 distinguished members from over 100 countries: including
several from the House of Lords, House of Commons, EU Parliament, US Congress
& Senate, G10's Senior Government officials and over 1,500 CEOs from
financial institutions, scientific corporates and voluntary organisations
as well as over 750 Professors from academic centres of excellence worldwide.

Dear ATCA Colleagues; dear IntentBloggers

[Please note that the views presented by individual contributors
are not necessarily representative of the views of ATCA, which is neutral.
ATCA conducts collective Socratic dialogue on global opportunities and
threats.]

Re: Armistice Day -- Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori

Today is the anniversary of the end of the first world war, Armistice
Day, 11th November at 11:00am. We would like to present, Wilfred Owen's
"Dulce et Decorum Est", the best known poem of the
First World War, which rather accurately describes the horror of war,
and the pity of war.

DULCE ET DECORUM EST
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!  An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime ...
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.

8 October 1917 -- March, 1918

Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori is a line from the Roman lyrical
poet Horace's Odes (iii 2.13). The line can be rendered in English as:
"It is sweet and honourable to die for one's country." In
classical Latin it was pronounced, "dulcet decorumst pro patria
mori," due to poetic elision and prodelision.

Wilfred Edward Salter Owen, MC (March 18, 1893  November 4, 1918)
was an English poet and soldier, regarded by some as the leading poet
of the First World War. His shocking, realistic war poetry on the horrors
of trench and gas warfare was heavily influenced by his friend Siegfried
Sassoon and sat in stark contrast to both the public perception of war
at the time, and to the patriotic verse written earlier by war poets
such as Rupert Brooke. Some of his best-known works -- most of which
remained unpublished until after his death -- include Dulce Et Decorum
Est, Anthem for Doomed Youth, Futility, and Strange Meeting. His preface
intended for a book of poems to be published in 1919 contains numerous
well-known phrases, especially 'War, and the pity of War', and 'the
Poetry is in the pity'. He is just as well-known for having been killed
in action at the Sambre-Oise Canal just a week before the war ended,
causing news of his death to reach his home as the town's church bells
declared peace.

[ENDS]

We look forward to your further thoughts, observations and views. Thank
you.

Best wishes

For and on behalf of DK Matai, Chairman, Asymmetric Threats Contingency
Alliance (ATCA)

ATCA: The Asymmetric Threats Contingency Alliance
is a philanthropic expert initiative founded in 2001 to resolve complex global
challenges through collective Socratic dialogue and joint executive action
to build a wisdom based global economy. Adhering to the doctrine of non-violence,
ATCA addresses opportunities and threats arising from climate chaos, radical
poverty, organised crime & extremism, advanced technologies -- bio, info,
nano, robo & AI, demographic skews, pandemics and financial systems. Present
membership of ATCA is by invitation only and has over 5,000 distinguished
members from over 100 countries: including several from the House of Lords,
House of Commons, EU Parliament, US Congress & Senate, G10's Senior Government
officials and over 1,500 CEOs from financial institutions, scientific corporates
and voluntary organisations as well as over 750 Professors from academic centres
of excellence worldwide.